Vegan French Toast, "Chicken" Nugget Salad and Pesto Soup, oh my!

This is a rarity in that I usually don't post all three meals that I make in one day... but a lazy Sunday will do that to you. Actually, the day wasn't all that lazy... hubby and I went to see Wicked the musical, which was just wonderful! We started off the day with a vegweb.com recipe for vegan french toast. My omni hubby loves this recipe... says it's the best french toast he's ever tasted. I'll post the recipe below because I couldn't find it on vegweb, even though I know that's where I got it. I love vegweb... when I don't have my nose in a cookbook, I'm browsing recipes on vegweb. Lots of great recipe finds there! Give it a visit!

Lunch was a quickie... just salads with greens, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, shelled pistachio nuts, dried cranberries, veggie cheese and leftover/reheated "chicken" nuggets chopped up... all that topped with Newman's Own Lighten Up Raspberry and Walnut dressing.

For dinner, I made Fat Free Vegan's "Purple Pesto Soup".... minus the "purple" because all I could find was the green basil. It was delicious and low fat! My hubby said he would've preferred some "chunks" left in the soup instead of all pureed. And, I'm curious as to what it would taste like if I used veggie broth in place of the hot water. Definitely worth some exploration! :)

Here's that vegan french toast recipe, originally found on Vegweb.com:

2 cups vanilla soy milk
4-5 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons sugar
dash of cinnamon
bread slices (your choice)
sugar to taste

Mix together the flour, milk, sugar and cinnamon to form a batter. Dip bread and fry in a lightly greased pan until golden brown. The original recipe suggested sprinkling with vegan powdered sugar, but I never have. We top it with pure maple syrup instead!

Vegetarian dining at Andiamo Italia

This week I was fortunate enough to have dinner with a friend visiting from out-of-state. We chose to dine at the more upscale Andiamo Italia restaurant.

I had not visited this restaurant since going vegetarian, so the online dinner menu was a big help in determining ahead of time what I might or might not be able to eat. As lacto-ovo vegetarians know, Italian restaurants usually are not a problem for dining. However, lately I've been trying to eat as vegan as possible for several reasons, which I won't get into at the moment so I don't detract from this review. ;)

The service at more upscale restaurants is often top notch, and this location was no exception. Our waitress was very attentive and helpful, with one flaw -- she thought vegetarians ate seafood. :( After I informed her that I did not, she quickly indicated that the chef often will prepare a non-menu pasta primavera, which sounded absolutely delicious by her description. However, the downside was that I ate pasta for lunch, so I really didn't want to have pasta again. I'm getting married in 378 days so I've decided I need to start watching my portions more carefully in an effort to get in better shape. Since the restaurant seemed so eager to accommodate me by whipping up a non-menu item, I felt it was safe to ask for the Insalata d' Autonno (mixed greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, topped with apples, walnuts, dried cherries, turkey and fried chevre cheese) without the turkey and cheese, and maybe some extra walnuts and dried cherries. :) Our server was happy to oblige, but when my salad came out, it did have the fried cheese. Thankfully, it was in the shape of a ball so I just left it there and ate around it.

The salad was good, but I usually prefer my dressing on the side and I totally forgot to ask them if I could order it that way. So, the mixed greens were drenched in the balsamic vinaigrette, which was just a bit too much for me. I'm not sure if I would order this salad again. In terms of more upscale salads, I'd rather have something like the gorgeous salad I had at the Henry Ford Estate this summer. It was cheaper too! Andiamo's Insalata d' Autonno will put you back $11. In the future, I'll make sure to plan better so I can order the spaghetti with marinara sauce.

Overall, it was a great dining experience. The service is outstanding and efforts were made to accommodate my veg*n eating preference.

In a situation like this, though, it's not really about the food. The night was about catching up with a friend, and boy did we do that! Our reservation was for 6:15 p.m. and we didn't leave until after 11 p.m. What can I say, we like to talk! :) And, my friend was gracious enough to pick up the tab. Thanks, Sue, for a wonderful dinner. It was so great to see you again. Let's hope our next talk fest will be sooner than later!

'Nuts About Spinach' salad

Doesn't this look fabulous? It tasted just as fabulous too! This is the "Nuts About Spinach" salad on the menu at The Pool Restaurant, located inside the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, Mich. You may remember that I did a previous blog entry about the restaurant at the mansion earlier this summer.

This salad was BIG, and it better be for the $9.95 price! LOL Baby spinach leaves were topped with melon, strawberries, mandarin oranges and Michigan dried cherries. Underneath all the fruit were the almonds, walnuts and soy nuts. Raspberry vinaigrette came with the salad on the side. I couldn't resist... I poured the whole cup of dressing on top cuz the vinaigrette was divine! It had a nice, thick texture to it, not runny at all. Tasted very fresh, too.

To my delight, my dining companion--an omnivore--ordered this gorgeous salad, too! And, I discovered through our conversation today that he has a secret longing to be a vegetarian! Go ahead, R... you know you want to go veg! ;-p

Honey Fried Tofu

Found a recipe for Honey Fried Tofu at veggieboards.com. Personally, I like tofu but haven't been very creative in cooking it--until now. I made this for dinner last night and modified the recipe slightly by using canola oil instead of butter; it seemed to work just fine. :)

I decided to use it in a salad of mixed greens, mushrooms, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, sliced apple, walnut bits and craisins, sprinkled with flaxseed meal. And, of course, no salad of mine would be complete without Annie's Naturals Organic Papaya Poppy Seed dressing on top. I'm soooooooo addicted to this dressing--it's AWESOME!

I liked this recipe a lot; truly yummy! And, it smelled GREAT the entire time I was cooking it. :) The recipe says vegans can substitute maple syrup instead of honey; I'm definitely up for giving that version a try, too, especially if it'll turn out as yummy as this.

Have plenty of Honey Fried Tofu left over... will have to think of another way to use it this week--other than a salad!